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Reports to Conference Spr 07 Reports to Spring Conference 2007 Harrogate Contents Page FEDERAL CONFERENCE COMMITTEE . .3 FEDERAL POLICY COMMITTEE . .6 FEDERAL EXECUTIVE . .10 FEDERAL FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE . .12 FEDERAL APPEALS PANEL . .18 PARLIAMENTARY PARTY (COMMONS) . .21 PARLIAMENTARY PARTY (LORDS) . .23 PARLIAMENTARY PARTY (EUROPE) . .26 CAMPAIGN FOR GENDER BALANCE . .29 Federal Conference Committee The Federal Conference Committee is responsible for organising the two Federal conferences each year. This includes choosing the agenda from amongst the policy and business motions submitted by conference reps, local, regional and state parties, specified associated organisations and Federal committees, and also taking decisions on topics such as venues, registration rates and other administrative and organisational matters. It works within a budget set by the FFAC. The FCC has 21 voting members: the Party President; the Chief Whip; three state party reps; two reps from the FE and two from the FPC; and twelve members directly elected by conference reps. It elects its own chair (currently Duncan Brack), who must be one of the directly elected reps. Committee At its first meeting, in November, the Committee elected myself as Chair, and Andrew Wiseman and Ruth Polling as its two Vice-Chairs. In addition to the members listed above, we co-opted (as non- voting members) the Chief Steward (Chris Jennings), a representative from the FFAC (currently subject to FFAC decision) and the Chair of the Campaigns & Communications Committee (Ed Davey). Agenda The Committee continues to experiment with agenda innovations, following generally positive responses to new items introduced in recent years. In addition to the debates and set-piece speeches, the conference agenda at Harrogate includes two presentations, from the Welsh party (following the corresponding presentation from the Scottish party in September, in the run-up to the Scottish and Welsh elections in May) and from the Liberal Democrat group on South Somerset council. We will also see a question & answer session, this time mainly with non-party members, on the subject of policies on crime. The general topic of tackling crime will be the main theme of the conference; as well as the Q&A session, the rally, on the Friday evening, and one of the main debates, on the FPC’s policy paper on crime in the community, will feature on the agenda. The other main debate, of course, will centre on the FPC’s proposals on the UK’s Trident nuclear missile force. As in the run-up to Brighton 2006, we are beginning our planning for future conferences further ahead than previously, and in regular liaison with other key parts of the federal party. A Conference Planning Group meets about every two months, comprising the FCC officers and Conference Office staff, FPC officers and Policy staff, the Campaigns & Communications Committee and Press and Communications staff, the Leader’s Office and the Commons Whip’s Office. Its aim is to ensure that the conference agenda is structured in such a way as to maximise opportunities for spreading the party’s key messages and presenting the best image of the party, both to members attending and, through the media, to the wider public. Motions As with last year, the timing of the spring conference early in March meant that the deadline for motions fell just after the New Year. Once again, we have had a relatively low number of motions submitted, probably due to the timing of this deadline. In last year’s FCC report, we aimed to do our utmost to put the spring conference later in March in future years. Whilst venue commitments have prevented us from achieving this goal for 2007, we are pleased to report that spring conference 2008 has been shifted back to the second weekend in March and we aim to continue this trend, when possible scheduling for the third weekend in March in future years. We are continuing to provide a motions drafting advisory service, and would encourage all motion submitters to make use of it - those who have used it in the past have had a higher chance of having their motions accepted. This involves an additional deadline of (usually) two weeks before the normal motions deadline for anyone wanting assistance and advice with drafting their motions; draft should be sent to [email protected]. 3 This service is also open to those submitting amendments. I encourage in particular anyone thinking of submitting an amendment to the Trident motion to use the service. This likely to be a fairly complex debate, and we need to make sure that the amendments are as clear as possible. Conference Rally The organisation of the rally at the autumn conference in Brighton is open to any party body or group of members to organise through a bidding process. All SAOs, AOs, state and English regional parties, and parliamentary teams, have been written to inviting them to bid but it is open to any group of party members. The deadline for bids is Monday 12 March and FCC will make a decision by the end of March as to who will run the rally. The organisation that wins the bid will receive some support from the Conference Office and FCC, but needs to be prepared to put the time in to make it a good event. The main work is confirming speakers and advertising the event. Room hire, basic audio equipment, backdrop, some free advertising and speakers’ expenses are available from the FCC, so no organisation should find itself out of pocket for organising the rally and it is a great way to raise your organisation’s profile in the party. If you are interested in running the rally please contact Ruth Polling ([email protected]) to discuss further and to receive a copy of the tender document outlining what is required from a bid. Future venues We always consider a wide range of conference centres for hosting future Liberal Democrat conferences. The current size of the conference and the scale of public interest it draws make it an attractive event for many towns and cities to host, but also restricts the number of venues with adequate facilities. The venue for spring 2008 (provisionally 7-9 March) is still being negotiated. In autumn 2008 (13-18 September), conference will return to Bournemouth. We are still considering venues for 2009 and future years. Future Autumn Conferences: potential changes in timing In response to significant levels of feedback from Conference representatives on the timing of the Autumn Conference, the FCC has been considering a potential change to the schedule, starting Conference sessions on the Saturday and finishing on Wednesday mid-afternoon. This would make allow greater use of the weekend, which we believe will be welcome to those party members who find it difficult to attend during the week. We also plan to change the registration structure, to allow voting and non-voting reps to register for either the weekend, or the Monday to Wednesday, or for the whole conference. No changes will be made, however, until we have conducted a widespread consultation exercise, including conference reps and party members more widely. A short paper will be available at conference and also via the party website, and I urge you all to read it and respond. The outcomes of the consultation will be reported to the autumn 2007 conference and, if changes are recommended and approved, will be implemented in 2008. Access The Conference Access Group, convened by Catherine Bearder, continues to work on making conference as accessible for all as possible, and specifically on tackling obstacles for people with a wide range of disabilities. As part of conference preparation, an advance site visit by the Group is conducted to check out venues, hotels and routes from public transport stations, and to identify and solve potential problems. The Group meets during the early part of each conference to address any further problems which arise once the event is under way. As reported to the Brighton conference, FCC has also launched a wheelchair users accommodation assistance scheme. By adding a levy of £1 to the conference registration fee, FCC can provide financial assistance to those who require fully-accessible rooms in the larger, more expensive hotels near the conference centre, reducing this substantial additional cost to that of the average B&B accommodation. This scheme is now being promoted widely across the Party membership and aims 4 to encourage attendance by those who would not otherwise be able to afford to come. We are aware that this scheme will not help all those with disabilities who incur additional costs, but we believe it will tackle the problem where it is most acute. More information about FCC’s work on access to conference is available via the conference section of the party’s website (www.libdems.org.uk/conference). Stewards and security Conference simply would not be possible without the vital contribution of the stewards’ team. It is these volunteers, led by the Chief Steward, Chris Jennings, who handle the security at conference, look after the exhibition, fringe, information desk, stage and auditorium, and ensure that we, the participants get the most out of Federal conference. As in previous years, they are complemented by SIA qualified security contractors who are conducting the bag searches at the entrances to the Conference Centre. Communications We are continuing to develop and expand our use of online communications throughout the conference process. All postal mailings both prior to and following conference are now accompanied by emails (with links to the relevant documents on the party website) scheduled for just before the hard copies land. Conference pages of the Party website are being regularly and frequently updated with relevant information.
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